Signal Fire
by Metarie
Summary: There's a lot to love about working on the Enterprise. And a lot to be scared of. Gaila/Scotty. Sequel to Slow Burn.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of these people. I'm just writing about them for my own entertainment.**_

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Gaila looked around her quarters in frustration. It was so bare these days. She could never find anything anymore. Without realizing it, over the past several months she'd been relocating her belongings to Scotty's place. It made sense, really... she was there almost every night anyway.

Life would be so much easier if they just lived together. With a sigh, she dialed him up on the viewscreen. "Scotty, what are you doing?"

"Online barokie. What are you doing?"

"Looking for my shit. I've left like everything I own over there, so put on some pants because I'm coming over."

"You've left wha - "

Gaila hung up.

* * *

Scotty pulled some pants on. She'd left _what_ here? _Everything I own._ That didn't make sense. All Scotty saw around his quarters were his own things. Well, except for that lamp. And that pillow was hers. And she kept some clothes in the closet, but that was perfectly reasonable... and that was all, really.

No... no, it wasn't, because as he slowly turned on the spot, surveying the room with growing panic, he saw that the room was _filled _with her things. Gaila had left _things _all _over _the place. There was even a strange little puppy statue sitting on his desk. What the hell was that? Why the hell did she need _that _in here?

There was only one possible explanation for all of this: Gaila was secretly trying to move in with him.

Scotty thought he might start hyperventilating.

* * *

When Gaila arrived at his quarters, Scotty was mid-nervous breakdown. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing here!" he said, brandishing an ugly statue at her. "Because I do! I see _right through you_, Gaila!"

She brushed past him. "What are you talking about?" She went to the dresser.

"The pillows, and the lamps, and the, the, the weird... statues! And all the things in the bathroom? Well! It's obvious, isn't it! You're trying to move in here! Hold on," he said, finally noticing that she was rummaging around in one of his dresser drawers. "What are you doing? That's my stuff."

"Oh really?" Gaila held up a red lacy thong. "This is yours?"

"Oh..." Scotty blushed.

"That statue isn't mine, by the way. Sulu gave you that for your birthday last month."

"Oh." Scotty remembered being drunk at that party. He tossed the statue onto the bed. "Don't change the subject! How did _your stuff _get into _my drawer?"_

"This is my drawer, dearest. I asked for it, and you gave it to me."

"What? _What? _When did you ask me for it?"

"Kind of a while ago..."

"Oh really! Was I _awake_ when you asked?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly?! So that means I was not fully aware of the request, and therefore you took advantage of me while in a less than fully conscious state!"

"You've never complained about that before..."

"Gaila! This is serious!"

"All right," she said, turning to him with a hand on her hip. "Would you have said no if you'd been totally awake?"

Scotty thought about this. "No," he said eventually.

"Well, there we go. I don't know what you're so upset about." She continued her search.

"It's the principle of the thing!" Scotty protested. "The next time you ask me something when I'm half asleep, can you leave me a note letting me know about it? Please?"

"Fine. Oooh, here they are." Gaila extracted a pair of short blue pajama bottoms from the drawer. She quickly slipped into them, distracting Scotty momentarily. "I think I'm going to stay here tonight." She yawned and went into the bathroom. "If that's okay with you, of course," she called back to him.

Scotty sat down heavily in his desk chair. "Yes, that's fine," he said.

After a few moments, Gaila emerged from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. "You know, I was thinking. I'm here all the time, right?"

"Yes."

"And so much of my stuff is here already, right?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Would it really be _so bad_ if we lived together?"

"Gaila..."

"Scotty, come on. We practically do now. Nothing would even change."

"I just... don't think it's a good idea. I mean, we've only been together for..." He frowned.

"More than a year," said Gaila.

"What? Really?"

She rolled her eyes and went back into the bathroom.

Scotty followed her. "But don't you like having a place to get away from me? We work together all day. If we lived together too, we'd have to see each other _all the time._"

Gaila spit out her toothpaste. "Do you like having somewhere to get away from _me?_"

Scotty blanched. "I, um..."

"Scotty... I know you get bored without me."

He blinked, and his mouth hung open while he tried to think of a response to that. He closed his mouth when he realized she was right. "All the same..."

Gaila was about to retort when Scotty's communicator sounded in the other room. He met her eyes in the mirror for a moment before leaving to answer it.

It was the captain, cheery as ever. "Mr. Scott, would you mind gracing the bridge with your presence? We've got a little bit of a situation... nothing too serious, but your insight would be appreciated."

"Aye, sir. I'm on my way."

Gaila was leaning against the frame of the bathroom door as Scotty finished pulling his uniform on, her face scrubbed clean of makeup, her hair brushed out and slightly frizzy because of it. "I guess we'll finish this conversation later," she said.

"I suppose so," he said, trying to sound less grateful than he felt.

"Well, go on then," she said, smiling a little. "You know how impatient Sir Captain gets."

Scotty smiled too, then, impulsively, he went to her and kissed her full on the mouth. It was quick but passionate, and they were both breathless afterwards.

"Hmm..." said Gaila, after he had pulled away and was headed for the door. "Hurry back!"

"You can count on it," he called back, and the door slid shut behind him.

* * *

A/N: Senior year of college starts up next week and I'll be busy busy, so updates might be slower on this one than they have been in the past... if only there were something you could to do help speed things up... oh! Wait! Reviews! Yes!

So yeah. Help me out here. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

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When Scotty arrived on the bridge, there seemed to be very little going on. Chekov was leaning back in his chair, staring off into space. Sulu had a PADD out and Scotty could tell even from that distance that he was playing Pong. Spock was, naturally, doing actual work, and the rest of the bridge crew seemed to be doing a good job of fooling him into thinking they were being productive. Kirk was at Uhura's station, leaning over in discussion with her. Scotty approached them.

"You rang, Captain?"

"Ah, Scotty." Kirk straightened and turned to him. "Yes. We've received a distress call from a nearby Federation research outpost. They've been having a few technical problems requiring replacement parts... they'd have gotten them themselves, but their shuttle is also malfunctioning. They're asking anyone in the area for assistance."

"Nothing we can't handle, seems like," said Scotty.

"My thoughts exactly," said Kirk. "We've been in contact and are en route." He handed Scotty a PADD with a list of supplies. "This is their list of requests. If you would, Mr. Scott, assemble whatever you need and prepare to beam down to the surface. We should be there in less than thirty minutes."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

By the time Scotty had gathered his supplies and had organized himself for this away mission, they were in orbit around the small moon. A young engineering ensign, Hank McBride, had requested to accompany him to the surface, and Scotty had seen no reason why he shouldn't. As they stood waiting on the transporter pad, however, Scotty was beginning to regret inviting him along, as he was fidgeting and overly excited.

"It's just a repair mission, Ensign," Scotty told him. "Don't wet yourself."

"I know, sir," Ensign McBride said hastily. "It's just, my first away mission, you know? I can't help myself."

Scotty tried not to roll his eyes, but he couldn't blame the lad. They'd all been there once.

"We're just about ready," said the transporter tech on duty.

Scotty sighed. He hoped this mission wouldn't take too long. He didn't regret that his conversation with Gaila had been interrupted, but he was looking forward to crawling into bed with her and falling fast asleep as soon as this was over. He hefted his toolbox to the other hand, waiting for the tech to be ready.

"Ready for beam out on your command, sir."

Scotty nodded. "Energize."

The bright light of the transporter room faded and was immediately replaced with a long, dark hallway.

Almost instantly, Scotty was on edge. Something was wrong. Were the lights malfunctioning? He tried to remember if that was on the list.

"Computer, lights," he said. No response. "This is not good."

"Sir?" Ensign McBride's voice nearly cracked.

"Better get your phaser out. Just in case." Scotty looked around cautiously. Every instinct he had was telling him this entire mission had just changed completely. He silently cursed himself for not bringing more back-up, but there was no way he could have foreseen this.

"Sir," Ensign McBride squeaked. He was facing the other way. "I just saw - I think there's a... a kid down there."

Scotty turned around and peered down the dark corridor. "Where?"

"He was just there, looking around the corner - "

A phaser blast came from behind them, striking McBride squarely in the back. He flew several feet and collapsed with a sickening thud.

Scotty whirled to look behind him, but he saw no one. He slowly moved toward McBride's unconscious form, intending to check his pulse. Scotty was almost certain he was dead - that had been a killing blast.

But before he had even reached the young man, he felt a blow to the back of his head. Everything went black.

* * *

Scotty stirred. He was lying on a cold, concrete surface - he established this immediately, as his face was mashed against it uncomfortably. His head throbbed. He reached back and felt the nasty bump that had formed. Wonderful.

He wondered how long he'd been out. Didn't feel like it could have been that long, but it was hard to tell. He opened his eyes, expecting darkness, but there was instead a single bright lantern on top of a small table about ten feet in front of him.

And he was in the outpost's brig. Bollocks. The room just outside wasn't deep. It looked like a hallway that stretched past his cell on either side. Scotty could tell by the way the air shimmered slightly that the force field was set on maximum. Not good. Not good at all.

He sat up, looking around his cell. It was empty except for him. His toolbox and communicator were both missing. Well. Naturally. What kind of captor would lock an engineer up with a bunch of tools and a means of reaching his ship? Apparently not his.

Scotty stood, wincing slightly at the pain in his head. He began running his hands along the wall near the origin of the force field. The paneling was not unfamiliar - standard Starfleet issue, and he could almost see the wiring running underneath. All he needed was a way to pry the panel off, and then he could short out the force field and be out of there.

It hadn't yet occurred to him to be afraid. He'd been in tight spots before - not usually alone, but the _Enterprise_was in orbit. Help would come sooner or later, if he needed it.

He thought briefly of Gaila. Clearly, there was someone dangerous down here. He hoped she would sleep through this entire ordeal. Better to have her out of harm's way - no need to make a bad situation worse.

"Hey mister."

Scotty jumped a little. Was someone talking to him? Or had he imagined that? How hard _had _he been hit on the head? This was alarming. But then he heard it again - "Hey, mister" - and Scotty was sure there was someone there.

"Hello?" He looked out past the force field. He didn't see anyone.

"I'm down here." The voice was very, very small.

Scotty's eyes settled on the table. Getting down on his hands and knees, he discovered that underneath this table, there was a person. A tiny little person, a human girl, with short, wispy brown hair. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. Her chin was resting on her knees and she rocked back and forth slightly. Apparently, Ensign McBride really had seen someone.

"Hello, lassie," Scotty said, friendly. Despite her appearance, he kept himself on guard.

"I'm sorry you're locked up," she said softly.

Scotty cocked his head. "Well, I'm sorry too."

She regarded him with wide, round brown eyes. She seemed not to have a response to that.

"Do you know who put me in here?" Scotty asked.

She nodded.

"Can you tell me who?" He sat down, eye level with her.

She nodded again.

"Who?" He tried to keep the exasperation from his voice.

The little girl paused for a long time. "The bad man," she finally said, her voice so quiet Scotty could barely hear her.

His brow furrowed. The bad man. That was ominous. "I'm Scotty," he said, changing tactics. "Will you tell me your name?"

"Poppy."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thank you," whispered Poppy.

"How old are you?"

"Five."

"Where are your parents, Poppy?" Scotty asked gently.

There was an even longer pause this time. She looked away. "I think they're dead."

"Did the bad man hurt them?"

"Yeah." Her voice sounded dead.

Scotty guessed that this little girl and her parents had been the original inhabitants of this outpost. "Listen to me very carefully, Poppy. I'm going to get you out of here, but I'm going to need you to help me. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'm scared."

"I know. I'm scared too." It wasn't a lie. It was one thing to get himself out of a situation like this, but now he was responsible for getting an innocent little girl out of there. "We're going to get away, okay? I promise. My ship is in orbit right now, and all I have to do is call them, and they can beam us out of here. Okay?"

She bit her lip. "Okay."

Scotty stood up stiffly. Poppy crawled out from under the table and stood pressed against the far wall, watching him intently.

"Poppy, is there a control panel on the other side of this wall, where I'm pointing?"

She nodded.

"Can you reach it?"

She stared at it. "I think so."

"Okay. I'm going to tell you which buttons to press, so you can turn off the force field."

Poppy suddenly looked off to Scotty's right, towards an unseen door, her face filled with panic.

"What is it?"

"The bad man. I think I hear him coming."

Damn it. Damn it. "Okay. We have to hurry."

Poppy took a couple of timid steps toward him. She held out a hand, and Scotty realized she had been holding something tightly all along. Scotty almost laughed with relief when he saw what it was.

"Is this yours?" Poppy asked squeakily, the lantern light glinting on the silver casing of his battered communicator.

"Yes. Yes it is," Scotty said. "Oh, bless you, lassie."

"I found it before the bad man did."

"Very, very good, Poppy. That was very brave of you."

Poppy looked pleased for a split second, then quickly glanced back at the door. "He's almost here. I can hear him. He walks loud."

"Poppy, you take that communicator and you go and hide Do _not_ lose it. You can use that to talk to the people on my ship. Do you know how it works?"

"Yes. My dad had one."

"Good. Now go quick."

Poppy disappeared in a flash, heading off to Scotty's left. She was a fast one. Scotty supposed she had to be, with this intruder around. He shuddered a little at the thought of her locked up in here with him. Whoever he was, he must have earned her nickname for him.

Almost as soon as Poppy was gone, the door to Scotty's right hissed open. Appearing now before him was the "bad man" - an enormous, terrifying, jagged toothed Klingon.

"Ah! You're awake," he said, sneering. "Let's have a little chat, shall we?"

Scotty gulped.

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_**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please help me out with some reviews! And don't worry about the Gaila-lite chapter… that's definitely not a permanent thing.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

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Due to their current relaxed and somewhat idle status aboard the Enterprise, Uhura found herself zoning out a little. She had set the computer to scan all channels for transmissions but their location was remote. They were the only starship in a five light year radius. Any messages they received would be coming from the outpost.

When the computer stopped scanning and starting blinking a receiving light at her, it took her a few seconds to notice it. She put in her earpiece and replied.

"This is the Enterprise, please repeat," she said. This was probably the away team - it was the channel they most commonly used.

"Hello?"

Uhura was startled. It was a child's voice. "Hello? Who is this?"

"My name is Poppy." The voice sounded shaky but determined.

"Poppy, honey, where did you get this communicator?"

"I found it on the floor."

Uhura was growing concerned. She looked around for the captain, but he was distracted by Yeoman Rand and didn't notice her. "Poppy, can you take that communicator to one of your parents, so I can talk to them?"

"No," said Poppy. "They're, umm... they died." Her voice cracked on the last word.

"Captain, we have a situation," Uhura called out. His flirting would have to wait.

Captain Kirk was there almost instantly. "What have we got?"

"A little girl named Poppy down on the outpost found a communicator. She says her parents are dead."

"Put her on," Kirk said. "Keep it at your station."

"Aye, sir."

"Poppy? Can you hear me?"

"Yes..."

"My name is Jim. I'm the captain of a ship in orbit around the moon your outpost is on."

"Okay."

"Can you tell me where you are?"

"I'm hiding."

Kirk and Uhura exchanged glances. "Hiding from what?" Kirk asked.

"There's a bad man here. He... hurt my parents and now he's hurting the nice man who told me to talk to his ship and tell them to help."

"Poppy, this is important," Kirk said, leaning forward intently. "What did the nice man say his name was?"

"He's Scotty."

"Was there anyone else with him?"

"No."

"Where is he now?"

"In jail."

"Okay." Kirk straightened. He beckoned to Spock. "Scotty's apparently been captured by someone and is being held in the outpost's brig. Scan the area for any other ships and see if you can access the outpost's logs, find out who might be down there. It seems that our research scientists have been murdered.

Spock quirked an eyebrow, then nodded and returned to his station without a word.

"Poppy, are you still there?" Kirk asked.

"Yeah..."

"Stay right where you are, okay? Can you do that for me, sweetie?"

"What if the bad man comes?"

"We're going to keep you safe from any bad men that might be looking for you. Don't you worry about a thing."

"I'm scared," Poppy whispered.

"Captain." Spock was at Kirk's shoulder. "The most recent log entry says that at 0900 hours a Klingon shuttle crashed four kilometres from the outpost. A scan showed this to be accurate. There is indeed such a crash site."

"Great," Kirk muttered. "Poppy, we're going to get you out of there."

"I have to go," she said suddenly.

"Poppy? Poppy, are you there?"

"No response, sir," said Uhura. "She signed off."

"Damn it. Try to hail the surface."

Uhura tried. "Nothing. The Klingon must not be interested in talking."

"Captain, I took the liberty of scanning the outpost for life forms. There are three, two human and one Klingon," said Spock. "We have spoken with the child, who has led us to believe the Klingon and Mr. Scott are alive."

"So, Ensign McBride must be..." Uhura trailed off.

The three were silent for a moment.

"The distress call was likely fabricated," Spock continued. "Perhaps the Klingon was incapable of repairing his own ship and thus opted to capture someone who could."

"I agree," said Kirk. He thought for a moment. "Let's continue to monitor the situation, gather more information. Time to start planning the rescue mission." Kirk took a deep breath, then smiled humorlessly. "We're gonna get our engineer back in one piece."

* * *

"Who are you?" Scotty asked.

"I am Telak, son of Tanok," said the Klingon proudly. "You are a Starfleet engineer?"

Scotty didn't see a reason to reply; it seemed fairly obvious to all present parties that he was.

"You will repair the Federation shuttle belonging to this outpost," said Telak. "I will use it to leave this place, at which time you will be released."

"I'll do no such thing," snapped Scotty. "You've killed two human scientists, orphaning a five year old girl. I'll not be helping you with a bloody thing."

Telak's eyes narrowed. "Brave words, human." He grinned, and Scotty noticed for the first time the phaser he held in his hand. The combined effect was terrifying, and Scotty tried his best not to acknowledge that. "If you don't help me, I'll make you watch me torture the human child."

Scotty went pale. Telak laughed.

"So weak," he said. "It'd be a shame, of course, to sully her so soon. I have the grandest of plans for her."

Scotty did not know exactly what this plan would entail, but it was easy to guess.

"Don't touch her." His voice was low.

"Don't make me," Telak said easily.

The two men stared at each other.

"You don't know where she is," said Scotty.

"I can find her in a matter of seconds. This base is miniscule. Locating the little _baktag_ would be no problem."

Scotty wracked his brain, desperately searching for any other option, but there were none. He prayed to high heaven that Poppy was able to reach the ship with his communicator, because she was currently the only connection he had to them.

"All right," he said finally. "All right. Just don't hurt her."

* * *

The bridge was running on a nervous energy. Kirk had briefed the rest of the bridge on the situation, and now everyone was sitting on edge, waiting for scans or more messages from Poppy to reveal any new developments. All they could confirm at this point was the fact that Poppy, Scotty, and the Klingon were all still alive. The natural solution to this was a beam-out, but the outpost had a shield much like that of the Enterprise, and after Scotty and Ensign McBride had beamed down, the Klingon had reactivated it, rendering a beam-out temporarily impossible. Chekov was working on a way to remotely deactivate it, but without the pass codes - known only by the deceased scientists - they kept running into dead ends.

Uhura was uneasy. Naturally she was worried about Scotty, but it wasn't just that. No, she was uncomfortable because there was a certain person on this ship who would want to be informed of this situation. Kirk had indirectly asked her not to bother Gaila with this, so Uhura had waited, but it sat ill with her. If Spock was ever in trouble and she was about to sleep through it, Kirk damn well better send someone to tell her or better yet, inform her himself. There'd be hell to pay if she woke up and he'd been through some ordeal she'd been unaware of. And if Uhura knew her Academy roommate at all, she'd feel the same way.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Gaila."

"Lieutenant Gaila is located in Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott's quarters."

Uhura smiled to herself. Of course.

"Ensign Hannity, cover my station, please." She hurried from the bridge.

Scotty's quarters were on the same stretch of corridor as her own, and though she'd never been there herself Uhura knew well enough where they were.

"Gaila, are you awake?" Uhura said into the speaker outside the door. "Gaila. Wake up. I need to talk to you. I know you're in there. Open the door. Gaila, come on, wake up."

The door finally slid open, revealing a half-awake and fully annoyed Gaila sitting up in the bed. Uhura rushed in.

"God, Nyota," she said, rubbing her head. "Who died?"

"Gaila, Scotty's missing."

"Well, he must be around here somewhere..."

"No, Gaila. He went on an away mission."

Gaila was up and out of bed in a flash. "What exactly do you mean, missing?" She grabbed up her uniform and started putting it on immediately. "Tell me what's going on."

"A little girl found his communicator, and she told us he's locked up in the brig down there. We think a Klingon kidnapped him."

Gaila, now fully dressed, pulled her wild hair back from her face in a ponytail. "What's being done to get him back?"

"They're planning a rescue op on the bridge. I think they'll send a team down soon."

Gaila put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Thank you for telling me, Nyota."

"I'd want to know, if it were Spock down there," said Uhura.

Gaila nodded. Without another word, she left set her jaw determinedly and ran from the room.

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_**A/N: Reviews are love!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

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Telak deactivated the force field, his weapon trained on Scotty. He handed him his Klingon communicator. "Contact your ship and tell them everything is just fine, the repairs are just taking longer than you anticipated."

Scotty reluctantly took the communicator. His mind was racing, trying to think of a way to alert the ship to the reality of the situation.

"Scott to _Enterprise_."

"_Enterprise _here," chirped an unfamiliar voice. "Mr. Scott? Are you all right?"

It took him a moment, but Scotty finally put a face to the voice - Ensign Hannity. Uhura must have stepped out. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

Kirk came on then. "Scotty. We've all been worried. We were just about to send down a search party."

"That, won't be necessary," Scotty said hastily, as Telak shot him a threatening glare. "As you can hear, I am just fine. Everything is under control. The repairs are just taking a little while."

"We received a transmission from a little girl named Poppy," said Kirk. "She said you were in the brig. She said you'd given her your communicator and you'd told her to use it to contact us."

A thrill of fear went up Scotty's spine. He briefly made eye contact with Telak, but looked away quickly. The Klingon was furious.

"Well," said Scotty, slowly, as something dawned on him. "I don't know how that would be possible. I've got my very own communicator right here. Yep. This is the one I've always had. Been meaning to replace it, but we've been through so much together, my communicator and I... kids and their imaginations, eh? You never know what they'll come up with... she's a good girl, though, I'll say that..." He trailed off. That probably made no sense to them. If Uhura had been listening, he thought perhaps there was a chance his hint would be deciphered... Hannity was a wild card, and Kirk might not notice what he wanted him to.

Kirk paused in his response. "All right then," he said finally.

"I just need a little more time for repairs, and then I'll contact you for a beam out. I'm sure it won't be much longer."

"One more thing before you go, Scotty... how's Ensign McBride handling his first away mission?"

"Ah," said Scotty. "I'm sure he's dead excited to be here." Scotty knew how obvious that was, but Telak, thankfully, was seemingly not the brightest and failed to notice.

"Glad to hear it," said Kirk, but he sounded anything but. "Keep us updated. _Enterprise _out."

Telak snatched the communicator from him. "All right. Come on. You've got work to do."

* * *

Gaila had not fully thought out exactly what she was going to do or say to the captain when she found him. It had occurred to her vaguely that a solid plan would be beneficial when she rushed into the turbolift, but the seven second ride was insufficient time to formulate anything.

So when she burst out onto the bridge, she settled for the first thing that came into her head.

"Excuse me, may I please speak with Captain Asshole?"

"Gaila, please," said Nyota under her breath, who had apparently chased after her. Gaila ignored her.

"Gaila!" said Kirk cheerily. He left Spock's station and casually strolled in her general direction. "I assume you mean me?"

"How could you not tell me about this situation?"

"What situation is that?" Kirk was now standing right in front of her, hands on his hips.

"The one where apparently, my boyfriend is being held hostage by a Klingon? How long has this been going on?"

"Oh, not that long," Kirk said, nonchalantly, his tone waving her off.

"Nyota, how long?" Gaila turned to her friend.

"Uh..." Nyota looked uncomfortable at being involved in this. "About three hours."

Gaila turned back to the captain. "Three hours," she said. "And no one even bothered to tell me he was on an _away mission_, much less _kidnapped _by _Klingons._"

"It's really just the one Klingon. And if Scotty didn't tell you he was leaving, that's his fault, not mine," Kirk pointed out. "You can't blame that on me."

"Yes, and I will be having words with him about that later. But you damn well could've told me when you knew something was wrong."

"We didn't want to bother you with it when you were off-duty."

"Oh, I _think_ I could have deigned to drag myself out of bed for this," Gaila snapped.

"Nothing's going to happen to him, Gaila. We have the situation under control."

Gaila laughed incredulously. "Oh really? Then why isn't he standing here with us right now?"

Kirk stepped closer to her, and when he spoke his voice was low and serious. "Gaila, I understand that you are upset. That's natural. I'm upset too. But I do not appreciate your coming up here and berating me in front of my crew. I let everyone get away with a lot on this ship, but I can't tolerate such blatant insubordination in the middle of a crisis."

Gaila bristled, her arms crossed. She was too angry to be embarrassed, but she didn't say anything.

"Now, listen," Kirk continued, his voice gentler. "I am not being flippant about this. I'll be damned if another member of my crew dies today. We are going to get him back, you just have to let it be on my terms."

Gaila paused. "What do you mean, 'another'?" she finally asked.

Kirk sighed. "Scotty took Ensign McBride down there with him. He's dead."

Gaila felt the blood drain from her face, and for a moment she felt faint.

"I don't want you to worry," Kirk said. "We heard from Scotty not too long ago. He contacted us and said he's fine, but we suspect he's been compromised. We are monitoring the situation closely, and as soon as a rescue becomes necessary and possible, we will act immediately."

"Nyota said something about a little girl?" Gaila ventured.

"The daughter of the Federation scientists," said Kirk. "Her parents are dead. She's down there by herself, but Scotty seems to have befriended her."

Gaila's heart swelled. She pulled herself together.

"Captain," she said briskly. "Permission to be on the rescue team."

"Denied," said Kirk. "You're too emotionally involved in this one, Gaila. Go back to your quarters and get some rest. I'm sorry we didn't tell you about this earlier, but I promise we will keep you updated." His voice was final.

Gaila knew she had been dismissed. She nodded. She turned back to the turbolift, ignoring Nyota's comforting touch on her shoulder as they passed each other.

After the door of the lift had closed, Gaila leaned heavily against the back wall. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep her hands from shaking. She closed her eyes to hold back the tears.

* * *

It had only taken Scotty about fifteen minutes to fix the shuttle. There hadn't been much wrong with it... the mooring clamps were being stubborn about retracting, and an older shuttle like this couldn't take off with extracted clamps. The only reason the repairs took as long as it did was because Telak demanded that Scotty explain in minute detail every single thing he was doing. By the time he was done Scotty was ready to throw caution to the wind and attempt to throttle the infuriating Klingon.

"Well, there you are," said Scotty, dusting off his trousers as he got out from under the craft, hyperspanner in hand. "All fixed. You, sir, have yourself a ride."

"Excellent," said Telak.

"May I ask where you're headed?" asked Scotty, cheerfully.

"No," growled Telak. "My business dealings are none of your concern. And you are going back into the brig until after I leave." He grabbed Scotty's arm and started dragging him along. Scotty was surprised by his strength - yes, he'd been aware the man was a Klingon, but this was terrifying.

"Well, hey, hold on a minute, Mr. Telak, um... would your, your _business dealings_ have anything to do with the little girl on this base? I seem to recall you saying something... alluding to something..."

"As I said. My business dealings are none of your concern." There was a leeriness about how he said this, and it chilled Scotty to the bone.

"See, I thought you might say something like that, and I just don't think I can stand idly by while you sell a five year old human girl into any kind of subservient lifestyle - "

Scotty stopped abruptly, because Telak abruptly threw him up against the nearest wall. The Klingon bared his teeth. "And what, a little man like you is going to stop me?"

Scotty was offended. "I'll have you know that this 'little man' happens to have the power of the Federation backing him up on this. They're very firm in their stance on _selling children._"

Telak spit on the ground. "A curse on your Federation. Your laws do not apply to me." He let go of Scotty and started stomping down the corridor.

"Well, unfortunately for you, that little girl is the daughter of two dead Federation scientists," Scotty called after him. "And Federation laws apply to their daughter. She is not leaving here with you. I fixed your shuttle. Just leave the girl here and be on your way."

Telak turned around, apparently incredulous that anyone dared tell him what to do. He charged back towards Scotty, and he stood his ground - which was something he regretted almost immediately, as Telak punched him right in the gut. He cried out, doubling over, head swimming.

"You are weak," Telak spat. "Your Federation is weak."

He hit Scotty again, this time on the side of the head. Scotty fell to his knees.

"Look how easily I defeat you," Telak said. "Look how easily you fall."

Scotty struggled to catch his breath. He could barely see straight.

Telak kicked him in the stomach, then knelt down by Scotty's head. "You cannot stop me," he said. "Your rescue missions will come to nothing." His fist connected with the side of Scotty's head, and it was the last thing he saw before the blackness.

* * *

Gaila was no longer tired. She had no desire to go back to her quarters, and while Scotty's quarters were more comforting she knew she wouldn't be able to sit still for any amount of time. She instead opted to wander aimlessly through the many levels of the ship, admiring it absently, wondering if there were any possible way she could feel more useless.

In what way was being emotionally involved a bad thing, exactly? Sure, in some cases people let it get in the way, but to Gaila it seemed like the only way to deal with something like this was emotionally. Why couldn't Kirk see that? They should be angry. They should be incensed - enraged, even. They should be breaking down the door of that outpost. What could one Klingon do to an entire crew of trained Starfleet officers?

Well, he could probably kill Scotty and the little girl pretty quickly. At least before they managed to get in. That was problematic.

But how could they sit there and do nothing? What was happening down there? All this technology, all these magical machines, and still things like this could happen.

Gaila realized at some point that this was the first time either of them had been in any kind of serious danger since their relationship started. At least, in danger alone. They'd had their fair share of adventures together, both on the ship and on away missions, but they got through it together, and they always came out relatively unscathed.

Damned if she wasn't going to get through this one with him, too.

She ended up in Engineering. The ensigns were scattered around, performing various routine tasks and causing problems for Scotty to fix later - sometimes Gaila wondered if they didn't do it on purpose, just because they knew how much Scotty loved working on his ship. That's what she enjoyed telling herself, anyway, to explain their apparent incompetence.

Without a clear reason why, Gaila went to one of the computer consoles and pulled up the comm records from Scotty's conversation with the captain. She just wanted to hear his voice.

_"We received a transmission from a little girl named Poppy. She said you were in the brig. She said you'd given her your communicator and you'd told her to use it to contact us."_

_"Well, I don't know how that would be possible. I've got my very own communicator right here. Yep. This is the one I've always had. Been meaning to replace it, but we've been through so much together, my communicator and I... kids and their imaginations, eh? You never know what they'll come up with... she's a good girl, though, I'll say that..."_

Gaila frowned. What the hell was he talking about? That was so like Scotty, launching into a non-sequitur reminiscence about his communicator in the middle of a crisis...

Hold on. Poppy _had _contacted them, hadn't she? Nyota had mentioned that, and a quick glance at the comm history proved it. But Scotty was saying it was impossible, because he was using his own communicator to talk to them. The one he claimed to love so much. Which... now that Gaila thought about it, made no sense at all, because he bitched about that battered old thing only working half the time every single time he had to use it for something.

Gaila was going to get really mad if Scotty had been trying to tell them something important with that and the entire bridge crew missed it.

"Computer, rewind."

_"I've got my very own communicator right here..."_

"Computer, analyze the signal from this communicator and give me the Federation serial code on the unit this transmission originated from."

"Analysis failed. Unit is not of Federation origin."

Gaila stared at the computer screen. "Where is it from?"

"Unit origin: Klingon."

"Holt shiitake," Gaila said under her breath. Well. Something was very, very wrong. Scotty was clearly lying this entire conversation, and apparently the Klingon was forcing him to do it. Poppy must have done exactly what she'd said he'd told her to do. They were both in danger, then - Scotty and the little girl.

She considered this for approximately forty five seconds. By the end of that time, she'd formulated a plan. A shaky one, maybe, but it was all she had to go on.

And she was definitely planning to go on.

* * *

_**A/N: Well, that was a lot longer than I expected to be. That may or may not keep happening. As always, reviews = me feeling loved = me writing faster. (Might as well just admit it.)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: Not mine._**

* * *

Gaila casually made her way to the transporter room. Ensign Shafer, the attendant on duty, was understandably surprised to see her.

"Lieutenant," he said, straightening up. He adjusted his uniform subconsciously. "Didn't, uh, expect you..."

"Don't worry about it, Shafer," she said, smiling disarmingly. "I was just feeling a little restless and decided to come see how things were going... you know how I just love the transporter room." She batted her eyelashes at him.

Ensign Shafer was more than just unnerved by her response. He looked positively alarmed. "So... nothing's wrong?"

Gaila's smile was fixed on her face. The captain must be keeping the current state of affairs under wraps from the rest of the crew. "No, nothing's wrong." She sidled up to him and pretended to be extremely interested in the console. "Ensign... I'm going to stay here a little while, maybe do some minor recalibrations for the hell of it... do you think you could, perhaps, go and get me something to eat from the kitchen? I'm just _craving_a jumja stick..." She licked her lips, blinking slowly at him.

"I'll be right back," squeaked Shafer.

Gaila watched him scurry away. Thinking back, she realized it was nearly time for her monthly pheromone suppressant.

She had to work quickly now. After calculating and supplying the computer with the correct coordinates, she queued up a remote voice trigger transport. Grabbing a tricorder, tool kit and phaser from the shelf behind the console, she climbed onto the pad.

"Energize."

* * *

"Keptin... I am detecting an unauthorized transport down to ze planet," said Chekov, bemused.

Kirk presses a button on his armrest. "Kirk to transporter room. What's going on down there? Who just beamed out?" He had a feeling he already knew, so he wasn't sure why he was bothering to ask. No one answered at first. "Hello? Is anybody down there?"

"Captain, I'm sorry, this is Ensign Shafer... I just stepped out for a moment." The kid sounded like he'd just been running.

"Who just beamed out?"

"It's... Lieutenant Gaila, sir," said Shafer. "She said she was going to keep an eye on things..."

Kirk rubbed his forehead. "Chekov, can you beam her back?"

"She seems to have modified a tricorder to emit some kind of shield," Chekov answered, thoroughly absorbed in the console in front of him. "I can break through it, but it vill take a few minutes."

The captain pushed the button on his armrest again. "Kirk to Gaila, this is your commanding officer," he said, his anger evident in his tone. "I order you to deactivate your tricorder shield and report back to the _Enterprise _immediately."

Silence.

"Lieutenant, please respond."

"She has a communicator," Uhura called. "The signal is definitely there."

"So... she's ignoring me," said Kirk.

"Goddamn, Jim, you need to learn some patience." Gaila's casual voice finally came over the comm. Kirk was oddly relieved.

"Gaila, what the hell are you doing? Besides disobeying a direct order and facing possible court martial?"

"You are such a hypocrite. I know you better than that. What's the status around the shield around the base?"

It took him a moment to realize she had changed the subject. "Chekov?"

"The shield is at sixty percent, sir."

"Can you get a transporter lock on Scotty?"

"Negatiwe... there are two more emitters inside ze base. At least one more must be deactiwated before ze transporter vill vork. Still, it vill be risky, but I can do it."

"Gaila, did you hear that?"

"Yeah," she said. "The other emitters are in the base, right?"

"Yes," said Chekov. "They vill be in the main control room, at ze center."

"Well, that figures. I'll get back to you on those, sir. Gaila out."

"Gaila? Gaila, wait. Uhura, try to get her back."

"She's not answering."

Kirk let out a breath of frustration. "Fantastic."

* * *

Gaila had beamed down to the perimeter of the base to deactivate the shield beacon. That had been the whole plan. She'd expected the other beacons to be on the perimeter as well, but now that she was on the ground, she recognized the base's layout and swore at herself for not considering the possibility earlier.

She had no problem getting up to the base. She opted for the smaller, less obvious side door than the seriously protected front door. She saw the security camera the whole way there, knowing she had no way to hide from it. She hoped the Klingon would be occupied... though she forced herself not to think about what with.

Gaila reached the door and used a tool from her kit to pry open the control panel. In a manner of minutes she had hotwired the door and it popped open just enough for her to squeeze through.

The corridor was dark and empty. Gaila listened. It was completely silent. She thought back to the layout of the base, something she could barely remember from the Academy. There was a certain regulation to Starfleet's science outposts, but they all varied slightly. She tried to orient herself from her position by the side door and decided ultimately to head down the left corridor. It was still a guess, but how big could the base really be? She'd find the control room eventually, and she desperately hoped she could avoid the Klingon on the way.

Not that she couldn't take him.

Gaila started walking, keeping a cautious eye on her surroundings. She held her phaser steady, expecting Mr. Klingon to spring out at her at any moment.

Since this is what she expected, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked over her shoulder and saw a little girl following her.

_"Holy sh_- ugh," Gaila said, steadying herself by putting a hand on the wall. "Geez, you startled me. Are you Poppy?"

The girl nodded timidly.

Gaila took a knee, getting down to eye level with the girl. "Are you okay?"

Poppy didn't answer at first. Then she said, "No," and burst into tears.

"Oh, oh, come here." Poppy ran into Gaila's waiting arms, sobbing pitifully into her shoulder. Gaila's heart broke for her.

"The bad man is looking for me," Poppy hiccupped. "He wants me to go with him. I don't want to go with him..." She started crying again.

Gaila hugged Poppy fiercely. Rage was burning inside her. This entire situation was starting to feel much too eerily familiar.

"Poppy, do you know where Mr. Scotty is?" Gaila asked, gently stroking her hair.

"Yeah." Her voice was muffled against Gaila's shoulder.

"Okay." Gaila stood up. Poppy clung to her, and she took the girl's hand. "Can you show me the way?"

* * *

Scotty groaned. He was on the ground again - or still? - but he'd been dragged somewhere else, because he was in the brig again.

He tried to sit up, but stopped when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his side. It would seem he had at least one broken rib. Fantastic.

So, he stayed where he was, flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. His head ached. He licked his lips and tasted dried blood. The more awake he felt, the more like shite he felt. And he probably looked even worse.

He had no way of knowing how long he'd been out. Telak had probably made off with Poppy by now, he thought bitterly. This away mission was a failure in every single way so far.

Where the hell was the back-up? Kirk wasn't the kind of bloke to sit on his hands. Maybe he hadn't been down here as long as he'd thought.

Scotty heard the door down the hall open. Either this was Telak, coming back to continue beating him, or it was the rescue team, full of security officers specially trained to get senior officers out of impossibly ridiculous situations... hopefully they had some kind of pain killing hypospray. He could absolutely use some of that at this juncture.

Then the force field dropped, and Gaila was there.

_Shit_, he thought. _Shitting shit shit it._

"Good to see you too," she said sarcastically.

"Aghh... that was supposed to be in my head..."

Gaila was looking him over. "You're in bad shape, Scotty. What the hell happened?"

"Is he gone?"

"Is who gone? The Klingon?"

"Telak. Yes. He wanted to take the little girl..." Talking this much actually kind of hurt. He was feeling a little breathless. That was probably not good.

"Poppy's still here, she's fine, see? She's right over there." Scotty saw out of the corner of his eye that Poppy was peering around the corner of the entrance to his cell, looking somewhat concerned. Probably because Scotty looked like he'd been pummeled by a Klingon. Which, of course, is exactly what had happened.

"Gaila. You need to take her, and you both need to get out of here right now."

"I know. We're going right now. The three of us. Come on. Get up."

Gaila started to help him up, but Scotty had already decided it would be too hard.

"No, no, Gaila," he rasped. "Leave me here. Get her out and come back for me."

"Don't be ridiculous," snapped Gaila. "If that Klingon comes back here after he finds out I took Poppy out of here, he'll kill you."

"Doesn't matter," said Scotty, struggling against the blackness that seemed intent on invading his vision. "I need both of you to be safe."

"Oh, stop being so fucking noble," said Gaila. She finally got Scotty on his feet, his arm around her shoulders as he leaned heavily on her. "We're leaving together."

"Don't say that." Every inch of Scotty's body was protesting the movement Gaila was forcing on him. They started down the corridor.

"Say what?"

"The... the... you know," Scotty wheezed. "Poppy's listening."

_"What_ are you talking about?"

"Gaila! The F word! Ahh, shite," Scotty hissed, clutching his side as he tried keeping up with Gaila.

"You're setting a great example, aren't you? Poppy, don't repeat that," Gaila called over her shoulder. The girl was following them as close as she could without stepping on their heels.

"I never was a great role model..."

"That's okay. I still love you. Do you know where the shield emitter is? We need to deactivate it before we can beam out of here."

"I haven't got a clue where it is... here, I have a better idea. Let's just... take the shuttle I fixed. I mean, if it's still here, we might be able to..."

"What if the Klingon is in there?"

"Well, it's a risk, but... he's probably looking for Poppy, he might not be there... here, here... it's through here..."

Gaila palmed the door Scotty indicated. It opened into the shuttle bay, where the shuttle Scotty had repaired sat in pristine condition. Gaila recognized the make of it as the one she had first flown during her Federation flight training, and she knew it inside and out. If they could just get onboard they would be home free. She wanted to be relieved.

But she couldn't be - not yet.

Between them and the shuttle stood the tall, grizzled Klingon, Telak. He looked much too happy to see them.

"Fuck," said Gaila.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Poppy, don't repeat that," said Scotty.

"How adorable," said Telak, upper lip curling. "Is this a slave girl coming to rescue her master? I did not know Starfleet sanctioned such transactions."

"Fuck you," said Gaila, a fire burning in her blood.

"Gaila!" Scotty hissed. She ignored him, quickly absorbing her surroundings. The shuttle bay was small, with only room for the one research ship. From the corner of her eye she could see that the shuttle was so very, very close and so very, very ready to be boarded and flown out of here... the door was wide open. Telak must've just been in there, setting everything up. He must have been waiting for them.

"I was watching you on the sensors," Telak continued. "I would have left, but I needed to find my cargo first..." He smiled horribly. "How good of you to bring it right to me."

"Cargo," Gaila repeated. She looked over her shoulder, behind Scotty, and saw Poppy cowering behind them. But bless her for the brave look she had on her face. Gaila saw the girl and she saw herself, her own childhood and the adolescence that followed, things she'd never told Scotty... the days where she was forced to learn how to enjoy or at least pretend to enjoy being touched by strangers, and the hours she spent distracting herself from their hand on her shoulder by closing her eyes and dreaming of stars and starships.

Poppy looked up at her, wide brown eyes silently pleading with her. Gaila knew then that she'd have to be dead before she would let this innocent child be forced into the life she'd worked so hard to escape.

"Don't you dare touch her," Gaila said, her voice low and dangerous.

"The child is coming with me," said Telak. "Give her to me now and I will let you live. Refuse and I will kill you both and take her anyway. Let us not make this more difficult that it has to be."

Gaila thought fast. In her haste to remove Scotty from the brig, she had foolishly left all her accessories in the cell - including her phaser, which would be extremely handy at this juncture. This oversight left her with few options.

Coming to a decision, she disentangled herself from Scotty, who used the doorframe to steady himself and stay upright.

"Fight me," Gaila said. She started bouncing on her heels, gearing herself up for what she knew was coming.

Telak was surprised. Then he laughed. "I do not fight slaves."

"I'm not a slave. Come on." She beckoned to him. "Fight me."

"Gaila, what the fuck are you doing?" Scotty said, completely nonplussed.

"Careful, Mr. Scotty, Poppy might hear you." Gaila shook herself out, never taking her eyes off the Klingon. "What is it, Telak? You scared or what?"

Clearly, Telak did not appreciate this. _"tIch..."_ he growled.

"Gaila, I forbid you to do this!" Scotty hissed.

"Excuse me?" Gaila actually turned to look at him.

Scotty blanched. "Sorry, sorry. Poor choice of words... just... you can't honestly think you can win a fight with him! Look what he did to me!"

"Scotty, I took three courses on martial arts at the Academy and I've got the trophies to prove it. I got this." Gaila turned back around. "Come on, Mr. Klingon... bring it."

* * *

Scotty could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Gaila could kick arse, it seemed... not that there was ever any doubt. But truth be told, this was the last thing he had been expecting. He knew there was a Klingon school of fighting, and he knew that not many people in Starfleet had studied it, but it seemed that these courses Gaila took were comprehensive, because she matched him strike for strike.

"Scotty, get moving!" she shouted, and he came to his senses.

"Poppy." The girl was clinging to his side, and he took her hand, leaning over as he spoke to her. "We're going to go and we're going to get into that shuttle over there, okay?"

"Okay," she said.

"I'm not feeling very well right now, so I might be a little slower. But you need to go and get right on that ship as fast as you can, okay?"

"Okay."

"Miss Gaila is going to take care of the bad man, so don't you worry your pretty head about him anymore, all right, lassie?"

"Okay."

Now came the difficult part. Scotty straightened up in time to see Gaila aim two swift kicks to the side of Telak's head, sending him reeling into the wall. There was plenty of room now for Scotty and Poppy to make it to the shuttle, if they hurried.

"All right, Poppy, go. Run," he urged her, and off she went. Scotty limped after her.

He had just reached the entrance of the shuttle when he heard Gaila cry out. Scotty spun around and saw her on the ground, Telak on top of her. His hands were tight around her neck.

_No, no, no, no -_ Scotty could not tell if he is saying it out loud or not, but he frantically turned and began searching the shuttle for something, anything he could use against Telak. He found a bit of pipe lying in the corner. He saw Poppy as she was sat in the co-pilot seat, knees pulled up to her chin and looking quite afraid, but Scotty did not have time to explain anything to her.

He grabbed the pipe and ran - _sort of_ ran, more like a limp really, more like a pathetic hop, but all that mattered was that he reached her somehow - to where the Klingon was choking the life out of the woman he loved.

With a strength he hadn't realized he still had he took the pipe and clobbered Telak in the head, beat him with it over and over again, and if it didn't knock him unconscious it at least distracted enough to let go of Gaila. And as soon as he did that, Gaila shoved him off, gasping for breath. She scrambled up and looked at Scotty.

For a split second, Scotty thought one overwhelmingly grateful thought - _she's alive, she's alive_ - before he felt Telak grab the arm holding the pipe and pull it behind his back. With a cry, Scotty fell to his knees. He was already feeling numb to the pain from his other beatings, so when the bones in his arm broke, he wasn't even surprised. He only registered the noise it made, noting that it was quite a sickening noise and he would prefer not to ever hear it again.

"I will kill him," he heard Telak say, but Scotty was in another dimension by now, one where he couldn't quite keep his eyes open no matter how hard he tried.

"Do it and you'll be dead before he hits the ground, you fucker." Gaila... _she's a firecracker, _Scotty thought.

_"WejpuH,"_ Telak said, amusement in his voice. "It is almost too bad we did not get to know each other better."

Scotty started to get angry, indignant on his girlfriend's behalf, but then he felt a crippling blow to the side of his head and for the third time this away mission, he fell into nothingness.

* * *

_**A/N: Reviews = love. Tell me you love me… it's all I wanna hear. (Rooney, anyone? Anyone?)**_

_**This was a short one, but more is coming soon. One more chapter, kids!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

_**A/N: Short and sweet. Thanks for reading. :)**_

_**

* * *

**_

Scotty woke up in Sickbay.

"Gaila," he said, and she was there immediately. She looked exhausted, and Scotty knew she had probably been there however long he had been.

"I'm here," she said, taking his hand.

"Why are you crying?" Scotty asked.

"Because you remember me," she said.

"How could I forget you?"

"I don't know. But you did for a little while."

Apparently, they had escaped from the planet three days ago. His injuries had been severe... McCoy the miracle worker had healed him in surgery, but he'd been in and out of a heavy sleep since then. The first time he woke up, he didn't remember anything about anyone.

"It was horrible," said Gaila, sniffing a little. "You didn't even know my name..."

"I'm sorry," Scotty croaks. His throat was dry. Gaila went and got him some water. Nurse Chapel came over to check his vitals.

"Good to see you back in the land of the living, Mr. Scott," she said. "You'll need to stay here another day or so for observation, but then you'll be good to go."

"Lovely," he responded, then he gulped down the glass of water. "Is Poppy all right?" he asked Gaila.

"She's fine," she answered. "We've contacted her extended family and we're going to drop her off at Capello IV, with her aunt and uncle. She's adjusting well, but she'll probably have to go to counseling for a long time."

Scotty squeezed Gaila's hand. "She'll be all right," he said. "She's a tough lass." He almost said, she reminded me of you, but from the look on her face he saw he didn't need to.

"What about Telak?" he asked, almost wary.

"He's dead," Gaila said flatly.

Well, that was that.

Gaila climbed onto the bed with him, curled into his side with her head on his shoulder. "I never want to do that again."

They were quiet then, simply enjoying each other's company in the safety and muted quiet of Sickbay.

After a long time, Scotty spoke. "Gaila, I have to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"When we were trying to escape, before we got to the shuttle bay, you said... a certain something..."

"Yes..." she said cautiously, and Scotty knew that she knew what he meant.

"I'm a little foggy on the details, being in the state that I was, but I'm almost certain you said... you know. That word."

Gaila laughed a little. "You're talking about when I said I still loved you despite the fact that you're a terrible role model for children."

"Yes. That."

"Well, you are a terrible role model."

"I know, but that isn't exactly the most important part of that sentence..."

Gaila sat up and looked at him. Her face was clean of makeup, and her hair hung loosely around her face, tangled and frizzy from neglect. In no world that Scotty could imagine would exist a version of him that did not fall in love with her, because she was beautiful and exquisite even when she hasn't had a solid stretch of sleep in thirty six hours or whatever it was. And now, after all they had just gone through together, Scotty could not let himself continue to exist in a world where he had not told her, where he had waited so long to just say it, that word, the thing that had been taken for granted by the both of them, how he felt.

"Gaila, I love you," he said, and it flies off his tongue like he'd set something inside him free.

Gaila's mouth twisted into a coy smile. "Do you really?" she asked, leaning towards him.

"Yes, I do," Scotty said firmly. "And I'm a complete child for not telling you sooner."

Gaila kissed him. "I love you, Mr. Scott."

"You know, I think I might like it if you moved in with me."

"Will Iget more than just the one drawer?"

"As long as _I_ get more than one drawer, I think we can arrange that."

"Check another one off the list..."

"What list?"

"The list of Domestic Things to Do Before I Die."

Scotty laughed. "How far down this list are we?"

She settled back into his arms and got comfortable. Her voice was tired and content. "It's more of an abstract concept..."

After a while, her breathing evened and slowed and she was asleep.

Scotty held her protectively for a long time.


End file.
